Lindsey Harr, PA-C, started attending ECHOs in 2020 when she joined Adolescent Reproductive Health in Primary Care (ARH). In the same month COVID hit and she was one of the hundreds of Colorado health care providers who joined the three-times-weekly COVID-19 Just-in-Time ECHO for Primary Care. As of today, Lindsey, a family medicine physician assistant in Craig, Colorado, has attended 12 ECHOs, which she says has enabled her to continue to learn more about topics that can impact her patient care on a daily basis.

Craig has a population of 9,000 and lies in Moffat County, a frontier county that is home to Memorial Regional Health (MRH) where Lindsey has worked for the past two years. MRH is a vital lifeline to health care services in an underserved corner of the state. As a rural family medicine PA, Lindsey has only one or two choices of local specialists who often have lengthy wait times. She loves that she can gain knowledge from specialists via ECHO, which enables her to begin appropriate care while patients await further care. Lindsey has also attended ECHOs on rheumatology, pediatric psychiatry, urology, endocrinology and breastfeeding, all serving to grow her knowledge around caring for patients in her daily practice.

ECHO Colorado together with the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing (HCPF) has a focus on improving reach to rural and frontier providers like Lindsey. Currently 22 percent of ECHO participants are from rural/frontier counties. ECHO is working with HCPF on an engagement strategy for 2025 that will increase reach and ultimately access to care for rural and frontier residents. The two organizations are also developing creative ways to use data to better understand gaps in participant reach.

Lindsey decided to become a PA because she was passionate about caring for those who do not have easy access to health care. She especially loves caring for women and appreciates the ongoing ARH Clinical Pearls –an extension of the ARH ECHO providing regular updates and new evidence about ARH that she uses in her practice several times a week.

“ECHO is a wonderful platform to reach health care providers who are eager to grow their knowledge to better serve their patients,” said Lindsey. “I recommend ECHO to all the students I work with and to fellow providers on a regular basis!”

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Data released in February by the CDC identified Colorado as one of five states with a maternal syphilis rate that rose more than 400% from 2016 to 2022. Last April, in response, the Polis administration organized a comprehensive effort to save the lives of babies in Colorado. The Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment’s (CDPHE) strategic approach was to use every collaborative effort within its reach to intervene on the transmission of syphilis.

As part of its strategy, CDPHE engaged with ECHO Colorado to create Syphilis in Colorado: A Call to Action, a four-session ECHO series for providers and professionals across Colorado’s health care, public health and corrections systems that covered the most pressing gaps in screening, identification and treatment of syphilis. It also addressed the social factors that have contributed to the continued proliferation of the disease in our communities, particularly among those who have limited access to obstetric and sexual health care.

CDPHE was excited to partner with ECHO Colorado based on its experience with other series including the ongoing Colorado Updates in Public Health and topic-specific series on Mpox and COVID-19 therapeutics. Together, CDPHE and ECHO Colorado created thoughtful content that was delivered in June to over 170 participants. The post-series evaluation showed a significant increase in provider awareness around social factors and stigma associated with syphilis, as well as an increase in knowledge related to the use of point-of-care testing, lab interpretation and treatment completion.

“We know that one learning series will not solve all of our concerns with the increases in syphilis and congenital syphilis, however it has planted a seed for the department and our partners to continue the work in developing additional training opportunities at the local level,” said Adrianna Hervey, CDPHE Surveillance and Case Ascertainment, Program Manager, Office of STI/HIV and Viral Hepatitis.

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